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Sunday, February 28, 2016

It's been a month.....

since I have blogged!! I cannot believe it has been so long. Things have been super crazy at my house. For the last few weeks, we have been super, super busy.

Good news first, Sport received his mission call! He is going to Fort Collins Colorado! The crazy thing about that is Fort Collins is the same mission Scuff spent an entire year in while he awaited his visa to Brazil. Upon hearing the news, the mission president's wife contacted Scuff via Facebook and said, 'We get your brother!!' That will be great for Sport! We are so grateful to know where he is going and that he won't be too far away. Sport is suppose to report the to MTC at the end of March.

copyright: Karen Larsen photography

That being the case, we have been busting our rear ends trying to get things ready for him to go, which has played a part in our busyness.

On the crazy side of things, my sister had applied for a job here at the court where Drew works. We have had her visit during her interview and we have waited for three weeks to get the results. But alas, she did not get the job, which means she and her five daughters will not be moving in with us. It would only have been for a little while, but trying to figure out how we would manage all of that and then having those conversations with my sister took some time.

Also on the crazy side of life, it appeared that Drew was going to be getting another job. Out of nowhere, he was recommended to be the interim CEO for a neighboring court. The plan was for him to travel there twice a week and work here the other three days. We were suppose to do that through July. We even signed papers to that extent. That was at the end of January. Then things got super complicated and people changed their minds, after he attended a CEO conference for the state and was introduced as the interim CEO. Anyway, he ended up only traveling one day and not staying the night and later that week they had reconsidered and decided to go a different direction. Super crazy. In the same week, they reached out to him and asked him to apply for the job when they opened it. The announcement went out on Friday. Drew and I are not even sure we will apply. I don't think we are going to. But we will see. I guess we have the right to change our minds too. So....that's where that is.

On top of all of that life craziness, I have just been feeling overwhelmed with seminary and the rest of life. I have been on an emotional roller coaster. I think I am finally settling down. On a good note, I have not been eating my feelings, so that is a huge positive. And my relationship and communications with my husband are definitely improved. Through all of this chaos, Drew and I have had to communicate much more effectively in much shorter intervals, which has meant we had to clarify our positions and feelings.

While we were trying to figure out what our life was looking like, we rearranged Speedy's schedule so that he could graduate early in case we actually moved. But now we aren't moving, but are still graduating him early. That was more chaos and speaking with people and figuring out what that would look like and how it would work. Now we have to plan graduation and college attendance for Speedy. I think he is going to stay home this next year and finish at the junior college where he's at and then apply for next summer (2017) at the Y.

And in the process of all of this, two computers have bit the dust. Yes, seriously.

copyright: Karen Larsen photography

Friday night I watched an Evening with Elder Ballard for the seminary and institute personnel. It was amazing and exactly what I needed to hear to help me feel like I can teach seminary and manage my life. Just so you know, he told us there are 11 essays on lds.org that we should all read, know and be familiar with so we can answer the questions of our students in accordance with the position of the church. They were a little hard for me to find but you click on 'scriptures and study' then under learn, click 'gospel topics' then click the link that says 'explore the essays.' Essays are the links on the right. Or just click here. I have read through three of them and am still working on the rest.

He also asked us to pay the price to know our scriptures and know the doctrine and to know the students, then we will be able to be the teachers inspired of the Lord needed to help this generation gain knowledge necessary to give them a testimony born of study and faith, and to become converted to the doctrine, to know it, participate in it, live it, and defend it---which is what I think every seminary teacher wants. I just want to be able to help my students gain a testimony that will help them withstand the trials of their mortality because they are willing to pay the price necessary for it. And that through their obedience as they exercise their faith unto repentance, their faith will be strengthened and enlarged. But those things don't come because I force information into them. They do not even come because they read their scriptures or memorize scripture mastery. It only comes because they are willing to experiment upon the doctrines as they exercise their faith through their obedience--even unto repentance. That decision can only be made by each individual inside of their own heads and hearts. The goal then, becomes to do what inspires each individual to desire to do that for him or her self, for I cannot violate their agency in the process.

He also told us to hold a personal interview with ourselves periodically to assess where we are spiritually. Here are the scriptures he told us to use:
2nd Nephi 26:29-32
Alma 5:14-30
D&C 121:33-46

I have yet to do that. But here is my favorite line from the evening. "James didn't say, 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him Google." Elder Ballard. He was trying to explain to us that we all have to pay the price to know the doctrines. That price is to learn by study and by faith, which requires experimenting upon the word, and enduring to the end. We don't get that knowledge because we can find it on the internet. We get it because we are obedient to the principles and through our study and faith (which implies action---because faith is acting on the information) we receive the knowledge and testimony promised. Faith is hard work--more so, I think than the physical work necessary to have a great body or that ripped six pack. It requires bending our whole will to do what He asks of us, which will be what is hardest for each of us, because that is where the growth is necessary.

But instead of continuing on, I really do have to get people ready for church today and take care of the responsibilities I have at home. Poor Sport is feeling kind of sick. He had his flu shot on Wednesday. It is finally catching up with him......

copyright: Karen Larsen photography

Have a great Sabbath day! Enjoy leap day tomorrow! And I will try not to be such a stranger to the blog sphere. But no promises--until summer!

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About Me

Mother of nine. Busy as a bee. Loving life, living, learning, enjoying the process. Each day is a new adventure which provides growth and development for all (our family motto)! So my time is spent helping my family accept and adjust to the new things they get to experience in mortality. Never a dull moment!

Quotes for my life:

"To do well does not mean everything will always turn out well. The key is to remember that faith and obedience are still the answers, even when things go wrong, perhaps especially when things go wrong."--David E. Sorensen, "Faith Is the Answer," Ensign, May 2005, 72

“The cultivation of Christlike qualities is a demanding and relentless task—it is not for the seasonal worker or for those who will not stretch themselves, again and again.”President Spencer Kimball, “Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, November 1978, 105

Mothers who Know

COURAGE...

Life's journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say, 'No,' the courage to say, 'Yes.' Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be.--Thomas S. Monson, "The Call for Courage," Ensign, May 2004, 54

STRENGTH

“When[ever] I am tempted to feel that I have finished some hard task in the [Lord’s service] and deserve a rest, the Savior’s example gives me courage to press on. … When[ever] [I] remember Him, it becomes easier to resist the temptation to want a rest from [our] priesthood labors. We must have remembered Him today, and so we are here to [remember to] learn our duties, determined to do what we are covenanted to do, in all diligence. And because of His example we will endure to the end of the tasks He gives us in this life and be committed to do the will of His Father forever, as He was and is. This is the Lord’s Church. He called us and trusted us even in the weaknesses He knew we had. He knew the trials we would face. … We can become ever more like Him.” Henry B. Eyring, “Act in All Diligence,” Ensign, May 2010, 60-63.

Motivation

"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done."--Richard G. Scott, "Finding the Way Back," Ensign, May 1990, 74

I have the feeling I will need this later

"The refiner's fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." Elder Quentin L. Cook